Maharana Pratap or Pratap Singh (May 9, 1540 – January 19, 1597) was a Hindu Rajput ruler of Mewar, a region in north-western India in the present day state of Rajasthan. In popular Indian culture, Pratap is considered to exemplify the qualities like bravery and chivalry to which Rajputs aspire, especially in context of his opposition to the Mughal emperor Akbar. The struggle between Rajput confederacy led by Pratap Singh, and the Mughal Empire under Akbar, has often been characterised as a struggle between Hindus and the invading hordes of Muslims, much on the same lines as the struggle between Aurangzeb and Guru Gobind Singh as well as Chhatrapati Shivaji and Chhatrasal Bundela, a little less than a century later.